Thursday, August 25, 2016

Team Hero teachers are so proud of
what our students have accomplished
this year. Our students have been
dedicated to their studies and to making
the world a better place. We
know they have worked hard this year
and have practiced the skills they
need to be successful in the eighth
grade. We wish all our students a reinvigorating
summer vacation. We
encourage them to keep their skills
sharp by reading good books, staying
current with national and local politics
by reading the newspaper, visiting a
local park to enjoy the natural world,
and practicing their math skills by
playing fun strategy games like Sudoku,
Othello or Blokus.

Students on Team Hero showcased
their literacy,
research,
technology,
critical thinking
and collaborative
skills in their
Akidemy
Awards video
research
projects. On
May 10,
2016, students,
teachers
and
guests celebrated
with a
mini-gala
and awards ceremony.
Congratulations to every student
for working so well on this intensive
research project! Students who
enjoyed the project are encouraged to
join the staff of HTV or to sign up for
video-making electives next year. A
heartfelt thanks to parents, teachers,
staff and administration for helping to
make the project and the evening
celebration a wonderful success.

Visions of the Future is
the fourth quarter unit for Mrs.
Marr’s seventh grade English
classes. Students study the genre of
science fiction in depth by reading two
science fiction novels. Most students
chose books that are novels in a series,
so they may pursue another title
by the same author after reading the
first text. Students began their analyses
of artists’ and writers’ visions of
the future by reading Ray Bradbury's
"All Summer in a Day" and “Thanks
for the Knife” (an excerpt from The
Hunger Games) and noting the characteristics
of science fiction. They
compared the book versions to excerpts
from the film versions of the
texts. Then students considered other
works of science fiction that they have
encountered outside of class: Fifth
Wave, Divergent, and The Hunger
Games topped the list of novels; Big
Hero 6 and Wall-E topped the list of
films; and Supergirl and The Walking
Dead topped the list of television series.
Students discussed how science
fiction artists and writers help us to
see how our present actions might
impact future generations. In the
writing portion of the unit, students
created a science fiction story to express
their own vision of life on Earth
set at least two hundred years in the
future. Besides being influenced by
the science fiction novels they were
reading, students mined newspapers
and their notes from their health,
technology, science and social studies
classes for inspiration for their stories.
Many stories contained references
to wars or the loss of constitutional
rights gleaned from social studies
class and references to genetic
engineering and viruses gleaned from
science class. It is wonderful to see
how students incorporated facts from
across the curriculum in their science
fiction stories.

Finally, students completed
a digital portfolio project using
GoogleDrive and Kidblog to showcase
their growth as writers, readers and
thinkers in the seventh grade.
Information about the Self-Select
Honors program and the Summer Reading Project was distributed in
class and is available online. Students
should be prepared to take an assessment
on what they have read for their
Summer Reading Project upon their
return to school in September. A special
thanks goes to the PTA for organizing
a Book Fair in June to encourage
students to read over the summer
to keep their skills sharp. Rebel Pen,
South Middle’s art and literary magazine,
was distributed in June. It is a
wonderful showcase for our students’
talents in art, music and writing.
Please encourage your child to
write for Rebel Pen or for Middleview,
the school newspaper, next year.